2012 witnesses third warmest summer recorded till date

18 September, 2012

Don't think that it was a hot summer in only your neighbourhood, as scientists have found that sweltering summer heat was common all over the globe, with this year's summer being the third warmest recorded till date.

THIS YEAR almost every country in the globe experienced the scorching sun, sweaty afternoons and less fortunate parts of the world suffered an additional burden of rampant power cuts. The scientists of the National Climatic Data Center announced on Monday that not only America but all over the globe it was the warmest summers till date.

According to an article in usatoday.com, the average summer temperature this time around over global land and ocean surfaces was the same as in 2005 i.e 16.25 degrees Celsius. When compared to records that go back to 1880, only two other summers in 1998 and 2010 were warmer than the present one.

One of the branches of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) submitted an online report that stated, “Considering global land surfaces only, June - August 2012 was record warm, at 1.85 degrees above average.” According to the Climatologists, the Northern Hemisphere experiences summer during the months of June, July and August. However, this year the most unusual warmth occurred across parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including most of the United States and Canada, southern and eastern Europe, Kazakhstan and eastern Siberia.

Jessica Blunden, climate scientist with the data center pointed out the fact that the situations of droughts in the USA, India and eastern Russia all contributed to the heat. She also said that while La Nina brought a cooling effect on the Pacific ocean but El Nino reversed the situation by throwing a warming effect. The unusual warm conditions also caused the Arctic sea ice to lower and shrink to its lowest level on record.